HSN's computer virus affecting 24 hospitals in north east

Hospital officals at Sudbury's Health Sciences North say that a computer virus is affecting the medical records system.

This software system is housed at HSN and is used by 24 hospitals located in the north east region.

The hospital says that it shut down the records system as a precaution, and the other hospitals have not necessarily been infected, but are impacted as a result.

Hospitals in Timmins and Hearst are reporting service interuptions.

Mark Hartman is the Senior Vice President of Patient Experience and Information Technology for HSN.

He says that a cyber security firm is currently looking at the system for the source of the virus

When asked the issues are being considered a deliberate attack, Hartman said that no ransom note has been received.

CTV Northern Ontario's Callam Rodya is following the story and will have more news as it becomes available.

Update 2:

Health Sciences North continues to face IT issues caused by a computer virus that began Wednesday morning in Sudbury.

All appointments at the following clinics may be affected on Thursday:

Northeast Joint Assessment Centre

Ambulatory Care Unit

Heart Failure Clinic

Medical Day Care

Breast Screening and Assessment Service

Patients with appointments booked for Thursday are asked to still go to HSN, realizing that they may be impacted. Patients with questions or concerns may contact Patient Relations at 705-523-7100 extension 3737.

Anyone going to the emergency department will prioritized based on their medical needs, and are not seen on a first come, first served basis. This will mean longer wait times for patients with non-urgent conditions.

The hospital reminds patients that there are other care options available for those with non-urgent needs:

Telehealth Ontario can also be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling 1-866-797-0000.

Another update from the hospital is expected at 11am.Health Sciences North released this statement shortly before 5 pm Wednesday:

Update:

SUDBURY, ON - HSN is currently experiencing technical difficulties which are impacting our IT systems, which began at 8:00 on Wednesday morning. Our IT team has identified a computer virus as the cause of these problems. We do not know yet how our IT systems came to be infected with this virus. However, we are actively working with several IT experts, including McAfee, to rectify this situation as soon as possible.

This virus has impacted several of our internal software systems. The quality of patient care is not impacted. This disruption may cause delays with some of our programs, longer wait times in the Emergency Department. Certain elective procedures and surgeries in the next 24 – 48 hours may be rescheduled. In addition, chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatments have been cancelled today and tomorrow at the North East Cancer Centre and satellite clinics. Patients are in the process of being rescheduled for treatment later this week and into the weekend. Those patients impacted will be notified.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. To ease congestion in our Emergency Department during this time, the public is reminded there are alternative care options available in the community including walk-in clinics and Telemedicine.

HSN remains open and accessible to the public and continues to provide quality care for its patients.